Championship leader Sebastien Loeb has warned he will not be taking anything
for granted at the New Zealand Rally this weekend despite completing a
hat-trick of wins last time out.

The Frenchman's triumph in Turkey last month continued a dominant start to the season that has seen the Citroen driver open up a 40-point advantage over Petter Solberg after four rounds.

Loeb is returning to a happy hunting ground having led home a Citroen one-two on the last visit to New Zealand two years ago, and the reigning six-time champion will go away from the fifth round with the lead in the drivers' standings regardless of the outcome.

"Everything's gone well for us in the early part of the season," said Loeb, who has benefited hugely from the competitiveness of Solberg's privateer Citroen, which has taken crucial points off Ford drivers Mikko Hirvonen and Jari-Matti Latvala.

"The fact that our main rivals have shared the runner-up spots has helped us to open up a gap in the overall classification," Loeb added.

The fast gravel roads of the sweeping New Zealand terrain is a favourite for most drivers in the series, and Loeb is certain he will not have it all his own way at the front.

"Even if we've won the New Zealand Rally on two occasions I'm still being a bit cautious, as our rivals are usually very strong on this type of surface," he said.

"Whatever the case, I'm really looking forward to racing in this event.

"The stages are magnificent and fairly easy on the car; it's one of the rallies where you get the most pleasure out of driving."

Solberg has played down any advantage he might hope to gain from a day of pre-event testing he enjoyed on Monday.

Although factory teams are unable to test at events outside Europe, the same does not apply to privateer entries such as Solberg's.

The Norwegian has raced to two second places and a third at the last three rounds to emerge as Loeb's nearest challenger, but the former WRC champion's team manager Ken Rees insists Monday's test will not give his man the edge this weekend.

Rees said: "We actually didn't do that many kilometres, but it was on a road that was quite representative of the conditions.

"The test was more to confirm that Petter was happy with the settings as they were rather than to look for anything new. I don't think it's going to be a huge advantage for us."

Meanwhile, Citroen Junior driver Sebastien Ogier will be an unexpected entrant this weekend after being drafted in by his team to compete in New Zealand.

Ogier was only scheduled to race at 12 events this year but the impressive form that took the young Frenchman to a podium in Mexico and fourth place in Turkey has prompted a rethink, meaning the team will be present at every round of the 2010 season.